littlejim Posted July 30, 2009 Report Share Posted July 30, 2009 In the unlikely event someone else wants to try this caper I thought that I'd record what I hope is the final part in this saga. After fitting the electric water pump (EWP) I replaced the water pump, covered the hole with a blanking plate, and searched for a short belt to go between the crank pulley and the generator pulley (in my case now an alternator). After discovering the alternator tension adjustment just described an arc around the crank pulley without doing any tightening, I took the wimp's way out; ground the blades off the water pump impellor and put it back in. All went well until the coolant went in. First the slip with the drill while mounting an electric fan turned out to have made a hole after all. With that fixed the coolant then proceeded to come out of the WP shaft. replaced WP with blanking plate again and tried to find a 28" cogged belt. The belt has to be long enough to get over the pulleys, but short enough to allow you to tension it. The local engineering supply shop could get me a Carlisle BX 28 cogged belt. The B means nominally 16mm wide, the X means cogged. (This sits further down the pulleys than the original 20mm one, so I'll have to see if the alternator revs enough if I ever get finished.) On a bit of paper, a scaled down drawing indicated that if I shifted the genny mount out about an inch, I'd get about 2" of lateral movement outwards, somewhere in the arc around the crank pulley. I couldn't get a bit of aluminium bar, so I used 1" thick steel box section for the spacer, and 2" UNC bolts tightened it into place OK. Tightening the alternator mounting bolts was a nightmare for access (that steering shaft makes life hell). I also found the spacer alters the relationship of the hole for the adjuster bolt and the adjuster (which fouls the alternator) so it required a bit of hole filing and bracket grinding to get things to work. I had enough lateral movement to tension the belt in the end, even though I don't think I had the 2" the drawing suggested. In the end I was grateful that the problem could be solved despite the angst while doing it. I'm contemplating putting a saw through the steering column between the rubber universal joints and fitting a sleeve and bolts. Right at the beginning of the 'restoration??' it was the steering column stopping me getting the starter out, that got me started on the whole exercise. My suspicious mind is now telling me that the TR4A was actually designed for the LHD market and we RHDers were just an after thought. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Badfrog Posted July 30, 2009 Report Share Posted July 30, 2009 Jim, Knowing that 90% of car problems are electrical, I hardly see the interest in replacing a sturdy no-fuss unit by some juice-powered japanese gizmo. It's true I should not be talking about breakage lately but at least I didn't ask for it. Please keep us posted for the next episodes that as I foresee as either 1) the pump failed, the belt sprang off and slashed the rad or 2) "I finally decided to put the pump back in place but I can't find the long belt anymore" ..... Badfrog, mean as they come.... PS: You'll agree that in my situation I have to fire at random for brain stress evac. Either that or I'll have two take a couple of blues and some blacks. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
littlejim Posted July 30, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 30, 2009 (edited) Jim, Knowing that 90% of car problems are electrical, I hardly see the interest in replacing a sturdy no-fuss unit by some juice-powered japanese gizmo. It's true I should not be talking about breakage lately but at least I didn't ask for it. Please keep us posted for the next episodes that as I foresee as either 1) the pump failed, the belt sprang off and slashed the rad or 2) "I finally decided to put the pump back in place but I can't find the long belt anymore" ..... Badfrog, mean as they come.... PS: You'll agree that in my situation I have to fire at random for brain stress evac. Either that or I'll have two take a couple of blues and some blacks. Badfrog, as you will have a LHD model you can afford to say that, even if in ESL. If option 2) occurs it will be 'can't find the blades on the WP impellor.' At the moment when the going gets tough (Eg what is a Mills pin? where the hell is it?) I can connect the EWP leads and listen to the coolant sloshing round the system at 80 litres/min. Edited July 31, 2009 by littlejim Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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